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The Nth Degree
' |image= |series= |production=40274-193 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Joe Menosky |director=Rob Legato |imdbref=tt0708813 |guests=Dwight Schultz as Reginald Barclay, Saxon Trainor as Linda Larson, Page Leong as April Anaya, Jim Norton as Albert Einstein, David Coburn as Brower, Kay E. Kuter as Cytherian, Dick Miller as Vendor |previous_production=Identity Crisis |next_production=Qpid |episode=TNG D19 |airdate=1 April 1991 |previous_release=Identity Crisis |next_release=Qpid |story_date(s)=Stardate 44704.2 |previous_story=Identity Crisis |next_story=Qpid }} =Summary= The Enterprise is sent to investigate the shutdown of the Argus Array, a deep-space telescope and radio antenna. Geordi La Forge and Lt. Reginald Barclay take a shuttlecraft to examine the array closely, discovering the presence of an alien probe nearby; the probe fires a pulse as they near it, disabling the shuttlecraft and knocking out Barclay. The Enterprise crew recovers the shuttle and are forced to destroy the probe when it follows the ship, believing the Argus Array was affected by a similar pulse. Barclay recovers, but the crew finds him to be much more intelligent than before, his IQ steadily rising. The Array starts to undergo a series of catastrophic failures. Barclay, with his newfound intelligence, casually explains how they can use the Enterprise computers to prevent the failures, a task that will only take them two days to complete, much to La Forge's disbelief. Though Barclay's solution works temporarily, the rate of failure drastically increases, and Barclay finds the Enterprise computer too slow to keep up with it. He goes to the holodeck and creates a device that allows him to interact directly with the Enterprise and array computer systems, putting an end to the Array's failures. The crew finds that Barclay has become too integrated with the computer, and when they try to shut down the computer, Barclay sends the ship into a "subspace inversion", jumping the ship across a great distance faster than warp travel. They arrive at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and are met by a representative of a race of beings called the Cytherians, who are far more advanced than humans and find amusement in their "bipedal locomotion" and "hierarchical collective command structure". Barclay, who was removed from the computer by the Cytherians and has lost his heightened intelligence, arrives on the bridge to help explain what has transpired. The Cytherians are friendly explorers like the Federation, but instead of traveling themselves to meet other races, they instead have launched probes that instill the necessary knowledge into beings to make them come to the Cytherians. The probe mistook the Argus Array and shuttlecraft for intelligent beings, and thus caused the failures in their systems. The Enterprise stays with the Cytherians for ten days, exchanging knowledge that will take decades to fully recognize. The Cytherians then return the Enterprise to the Argus Array. Barclay finds himself back to normal, although he keeps vivid memories of his temporary transformation and is able to play chess well, even though he has never played chess. =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # Given the new knowledge from Force of Nature that high warp speeds can damage subspace, would there be some benefit in resurrecting Mr Barclay's method of travel for further study. It may not be possible, the method may be impractical for relatively shorter distances, and it may only be available for travel to and from the Cytherian home system. # What happened to all the information that the Enterprise brought back? Surely there could have been something that could have been applied to day-to-day operations straight away. All the information would have to be thoroughly checked over as a safety precaution. Equipment Oddities # La Forge still tapping his combadge to talk to Barclay when the latter is connected to the computer. La Forge still regards Barclay as a human being. # La Forge using a flashlight to check the panel in the Jefferies Tube, even though he can usually do without one. Perhaps he felt it necessary to have some additional light, depending on the dimensions of the panel. Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 4:57 am: Woudn't turning off the audio only mean that the bridge crew wouldn't be able to hear Barcly? The computer system must have "listening ports" throughout the ship for voice commands.Brian Fitzgerald on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 6:30 pm: Worf said that he turned off the audio. The audio system would include outputs (speakers) and inputs (microphones). # So why didn't Barclay and Dr. Crusher do the whole play? Has the attention span of Humans degenerated so much that people can't sit through an entire play anymore? Maybe they are performing a selection of scenes. # Why did the computer speak with Barclay's voice? Even if Barclay's mind is in the computer when he uses the computer to speak, instead of his mouth, it should sound like the computer. Did Barclay alter the computer's voice synthesizer because he prefers the sound of his own voice? More likely to improve interaction with the crew. # If the Cytherians have really brought the Enterprise to the center of the galaxy, then why is the picture on the viewscreen so dark? With all the stars at the center of the galaxy shouldn't the screen be mostly light with patches of dark? The ship could be at an angle, facing an area of empty space. # constanze on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 10:53 am: One of the reactors in the telescope array is threatening to blow up, which would lead to a chain reaction blowing the whole thing apart, and several others are becoming critical. Barclay in engineering says that the interface is too slow to cope with the changes, sprints along a long corridor (who built these long corridors and not enough turbolifts on the Enterprise?) and starts his holodeck-computer-connection. Now, what interface does he mean? I thought he meant the interface on the telescope itself. After all, the central computer on the telescope was damaged, which controlled all of these reactors. It can't be the enterprise computer who is too slow. So why would the holodeck connection help Barclay to avert disaster? And how does he manage to spit out detailed plans for a neural interface and handle the reactors in less than 30 seconds? Captain Bryce on Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - 7:21 am: Well, we are talking about a guy who figured his I.Q. was somewhere around 1, 500... # Will on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 10:31 am:''The telescope array has 18 or 19 fusion reactors. Doesn't this seem like overkill for an automated station? It's several miles wide apparently, when we see the Enterprise from behind, and the Array is sprawled out, dwarfing the ship, but even a city can be powered by a single nuclear reactor. Just what's on this Array that needs so much power? '''The fusion reactors may be small units that can only power a small section of the array.' # Rene on Thursday, April 19, 2007 - 7:07 am: I wonder why Voyager never tried to head towards the center of the Galaxy and ask the Cytherians to send them the rest of the way home. I don't see why they would refuse...They apparently shared a lot of information with the Enterprise about themselves and their technologies. The journey to the centre of the galaxy could have taken just as long as the direct route. In addition, they would have to avoid the black hole at the exact centre. # dotter31 on Thursday, April 19, 2007 - 8:16 am: While Barclay may have forgotten what he did, weren't their records of it (visual and sensor) which could be used as a basis to attempt to recreate what happened? Even if that took months or years, why not try? It may not be possible with the technology then available. =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation